Sophus Berendsen (16 October 1829 – 18 June 1884) was a
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...
founder of Sophus Berendsen A/S (now
Berendsen plc).
Early life and education
Berendsen was born on 16 October 1829 in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, the son of Isak Nathan Berendsen (1782–1852) and Rachel Meyer (1788–1851). He received a thorough commercial education and then worked as a clerk in a trading firm.
Career
In 1854, Berendsen established his own firm which traded in iron, steal and glass, initially as a
commodity broker but later as an import business. The firm prospered from the building boom that followed in the many new districts that emerged when Copenhagen's
fortifications
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
were decommissioned a few years later. Berendsen lived to see it develop into the largest company of its kind in the country.
Personal life
Berendsen married Mariane Levin (17 April 1825 – 14 May 1886), a daughter of merchant Assor Levin (1778–1834) and Susanne Cohn (died 1859), on 26 May 1858 in Copenhagen.
Berendsen died on 18 June 1884 in Copenhagen and is buried at the Jewish North Cemetery. The firm was continued by his widow and after her death just two years later by their son Albert Berendsen. It was after his early death just 37 years old in 1897 converted into a family-owned limited company (''
aktieselskab
''Aktieselskab'' (; Abbreviation, abbr.: A/S, or a/s, Unicode ; literally meaning: "stock company") is the Denmark, Danish name for a stock-based corporation. An ''aktieselskab'' may be either publicly traded or private.
Liability
The sharehold ...
'').
Another son, Ivar Berendsen, was a customs inspector and politician, co-founder of the
Danish Social Liberal Party.
Further reading
* Rostock, Xenius: ''Sophus Berendsen A/S 1854–1929'', 1929.
References
External links
Source
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berendsen, Sophus
19th-century Danish businesspeople
Burials at Jewish Northern Cemetery (Copenhagen)
Danish company founders
Danish Jews
1829 births
1884 deaths